Advisory Board Meeting in Oulu
Oulu City Theatre was once again host to the annual Festival in chilly North Europe. Two partner theatres presented plays for the 30th Anniversary of the festival and the P11+ management team met for its regular exchange of information about the project.
Corresponding with the Anniversary, the Oulu City Theatre was with also host to a conference about Finnish theatre and working together in the European context. The participants were informed about Finnish puppetry and dance theatre, and partners and project from other countries were also presented.
Reports of the progress of the co-productions and the planning of the 3rd Annual Encounter in Dresden, Germany in June 2011 were central to the P11+ Management Team discussions with the representatives from all the partner theatres. It was however also the time to look into the future: the Final Production of Platform 11+ and the accompanying exhibition was discussed for the first time. Dirk Neldner presented a comprehensive proposal that had been developed in Berlin in January by a task group. Ideas were exchanged and worked on in a very creative atmosphere. All partners unanimously agreed that all the participating groups should have an equal opportunity to present their work in the Final Production. Now it’s up to the authors to provide short texts for the Material Pool, which will be the starting point for it.
Both of the Platform 11+ plays, which were invited to the Oulu festival, were very different in content, form and targeted age group, but both were very well received by the audience.
Theatre Institute Bratislava (Slovakia) put on ‘Once it hit me ’ from Michaela Zakut?anska?. This play was the National Platform 11+ production for audiences of 12+. It was performed in a school in English, as it is also done in Bratislava. The audience followed the four actors on a route through the entire school building and attained thereby a new perspective on the well known walls of the school building.
Theater Junge Generation Dresden/Germany presented their play without words for the very young: ‘Funkeldunkel Lichtgedicht’ (Sparkly-darklight poem) has already been successfully presented in a number of different locations in Europe.
